Vicki Mokuria called police late Wednesday, shortly after her husband began wielding a knife and threatening her.

But she says she was able to get the knife away from him herself. She was about to try to calm him by walking him through the couple's Pleasant Grove neighborhood when police rang the doorbell.

"He grabbed the knife and said he was going to protect me,' Mrs. Mokuria recalled Thursday.

Moments later, Tesfaie Mokuria, 39, was dead, shot several times by police officers who say he ran toward them with the 11 1/2-inch-long kitchen knife.

Mrs. Mokuria said the shooting occurred so quickly that she does not remember whether her husband lunged toward the officers.

Thursday, she and several of her husband's friends called his death senseless and said the shooting could have been prevented.

"He didn't have to die. It doesn't make any sense to me,' she said through tears. "I'm having a real hard time accepting this.'

Police said the shooting was justified. They said a preliminary autopsy report says traces of the hallucinogenic drug PCP were found in Mr. Mokuria's system.

"These officers were in fear for their lives,' Deputy Chief Pam Walt said.

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Mrs. Mokuria acknowledged that her husband occasionally used drugs but said she did not know that he ever used PCP. If he did, she said, that could explain his irrational behavior.

The officers involved in the shooting, Senior Cpl. C.S. Massey, who has been with the department eight years, and Cpl. M.B. McMurray, a nine-year Dallas officer, are on routine leave while the shooting is investigated, officials said.

Mr. Mokuria was shot about 10 p.m., shortly after police responded to the family-disturbance call from his home in the 9400 block of Eddy Sass Court near Prairie Creek Road and Military Parkway.

Mrs. Mokuria said she called police after her husband began acting strangely.

"I don't know what triggered this,' she said. "He had never acted irrational to the point that I felt worried before.'

When police arrived, Mr. Mokuria went to the garage with the knife. Then he walked into the living room, Chief Walt said, and police asked him to drop the knife.

"He came out and charged toward an officer with the knife,' Chief Walt said. "One of the officers shot in self-defense and the other officer shot in defense of his partner and the woman that was there.'

Mrs. Mokuria said her husband was about 15 feet from the officers when he was shot. Police would not say how many shots were fired, but Mrs. Mokuria said there were five.

The shooting was unjustified, she said. "He was not beating me or anything. He just needed to calm down.'

Chief Walt denied that the shooting was unjustified.

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"He did go toward the officer and Mrs. Mokuria,' Chief Walt said. "They did feel that they were in danger and possibly she might be in danger, too.'

Chief Walt said police also acted to protect Mr. Mokuria's two daughters who were with

their mother when the shooting occurred.

Several of Mr. Mokuria's friends said Thursday that they were shocked by his death.

Mr. Mokuria, a native of Ethiopia who owned a landscaping business, had lived in the neighborhood for 2 1/2 years. Neighbors said he often gave them advice on caring for their lawns.

"He was a nice guy,' said Twani Adeola, who has lived across the street from the Mokurias for about a year. She said she last saw him Saturday when he helped her put up her mailbox.

Barakat Asmarom, a landscaper with Mr. Mokuria's company, said he had had dinner with Mr. Mokuria and his family a few hours before the shooting.

"I spent all day with him and we were talking about his plans to expand,' Mr. Asmarom said. "That has all crumbled."